1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a relay device and a remote startup system.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a technique called a Wake on LAN (refer to as WOL) for starting up, via a network, a communication equipment (refer to as “controllable equipment”) in a standby state. The WOL transmits a packet including a specific data string, which is known as, e.g., “magic packet” to start up the controllable equipment. It is necessary for the controllable equipment to receive a packet to determine whether or not the packet is a magic packet. There is a problem that it is needed for the determination to supply power to a network interface, resulting in occurrence of standby power for the power supply.
For solving the above problem, there is a technique disclosed in JP-A 2007-259339 (KOKAI). This technique uses a high-sensitivity rectifier and a power source control means that operate in low power consumption. The high-sensitivity rectifier converts an electric signal for startup which has been transmitted to the network interface into a voltage to operate the power source control means by the converted voltage, and thus, starts up the controllable equipment. This technique does not analyze any packets. Therefore, it is not necessary to supply power to the network interface, and may realize the startup via the network while reducing the standby power of the controllable equipment in comparison with the WOL.
However, the technique assumes a case wherein controllable equipment is directly connected to control equipment; thus, there is a problem that the technique can not accommodate a case wherein control equipment can not directly communicate with controllable equipment.